Looking on the bright side as rain returns to Ashes

What's so funny? Spectators wait for play to start on day four at The Oval.

Gareth Copley: Getty Images

You need laughter to survive a wet day at a cricket match.

A desolate scene: spectators umbrella'd and poncho'd, super soppers supping, umpires waiting restlessly for sunshine, and commentators checking weather maps with a longing for "when will they call it off".

So when a twitterer says that the cricket is far more exciting today than yesterday, or Blowers is telling stories about Clement Freud on Just a Minute after comedian Paul Merton's visit the BBC box, there is a ripple of laughter and a reminder that a lot of what we like about listening to cricket on the radio has nothing to do with cricket at all.

Today is the English summer day we want to forget and a reminder that of all sports cricket copes poorest with rain.

So we speculate, ruminate, joculate, pontificate.

And, after selecting the best combined team for the Ashes series, anticipate what might happen in three months when the Ashes resumes Down Under.

Australia at last look to have a settled top five, a wicketkeeper and four bowlers.

I'm not sure about Faulkner, who can bat and bowl - but is he likely to be more influential than a specialist batsman, like Adam Voges, who can roll out a few tweakers?

The likely personnel for Brisbane is also a major question.

Can Clarke survive a spate of one day commitments here and in India, as he seems to be committed to by his employers, and be fit?

Apart from his back, which for many reasons he needs to watch, consider his mental state at the end of a wearying, disappointing and unsuccessful series.

He gives his best at press conferences, honestly fielding questions about the teams he's been given.

"I don't pick the team," he says. "Just the batting order."

He's worked his bowlers shrewdly, claiming enough wickets quickly - until this match - for his batsmen to grab the initiative.

But other than Old Trafford and The Oval they've failed, as he has outside his 187, and England have taken clusters of wickets gaining winning momentum.

Clarke needs a rest and perhaps a chat with Allan Border and Mark Taylor about how to toughen up his team, and have them in sharper nick than they were with the Warner Walkabout distraction going into this series.